pp970.76 

C98 


Annual   Address  -  Charles  L. 

Robinson  Carap,    March  1B99 


Curtis 


C6e  JLiforarp 

Ottt)C 

Onitiersitp  of  JBorti)  Carolina 


Collection  of  jRortl)  Catoliniana 
TOte  ooofe  toag  presented 


1    O^R 


!    -        '    • 


ANNUAL  ADDRESS 


DEL.TVERED  BEFORE  THE  CHABLE8 1*  ROBINSON  CAMP 

NO.  947,  U.  C.  V.,  OF  FT?ATSTKT,TTSr,  N.  C 

MARCH  31,  1899. 


BY  W.  A.  CURTIS. 


Fbaxkuk  Press  Print, 

fkasklik,  >.  c. 

1888. 


TESTIMONIALS. 

Cleveland,  Ga.,  Mar.  12,  1887. 
I  have  examined  The  Golden  Dawn,  and  with- 
out any  hesitancy  pronounce  it  comprehensive, 
pointed,  religious,  useful.  It  will  confirm  the 
faith  of  the  believer,  remove  the  doubt  of  the  ske- 
ptic, and  impart  proper  light  upon  the  subject  of 
the  Great  Future. 

(Rev.)  C.  V.  Weathers. 

Cleveland,  Ga.,  Mar.  14,  1887. 
We  are  satisfied  the  Golden  Dawn  is  what 
Mr.  Curtis  and  the  Publishers  represent  it  to  be. 
We  would  recommend  it  to  all  lovers  of  truth. 
J.  P.  Osborn.  |  Pastors  of  the 
J.  J.  Kimsey.  J  Baptist  Church. 

Cleveland  Ga.  Mar.  15,  1887. 

I  take  great  pleasure  in   commending  Brother 

W.  A.  Curtis  to  the  confidence  of  the  public,  and 

The  Golden  Daavn  as  worthy  a  place  in  every 

home.  I  have  owned  it  and  examined  it  carefully. 

A.  C.  Thomas,  P.  E. 

Clayton.  Ga,  Oct.  25,  1887. 
After  a  careful  examination  of  The  Golden 
Dawn,  I  cheerfully  recommend  it  to  the  reading 
public  as  worthy  a  careful  reading,  being  full  of 
good  instruction  for  all  desiring  to  know  some- 
thing of  man's  eternal  destiny,  and  his  future  ex- 
istence. 

(Rev.)  John  S:  Dickson, 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2013 


http://archive.org/details/annualaddressdelOOcurt 


(^<^.cmu4^. 


ANNUAL  ADDRESS 

DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  CHARLES  E.  ROEESTSOjST  CAMP 

NO.  947,  U.  C.  V.,  OF  FR-AJSTKETTST,  N.  C, 

MARCH  31,  1899. 

BY  W.  A.  CURTIS. 

Fellow  Comrades,  Ladies  add  Gentleman  : 

At  our  annual  meeting  last  year  I  was  honored 
with  the  request  to  deliver  the  annual  address  on  this 
occasion.  I  deem  it  an  honor,  indeed,  to  be  permit- 
ted to  address  men  who,  in  the  Civil  War,  contributed 
so  much  to  make  North  Carolina  history  illustri- 
ous, and  second  to  none  in  the  Southern  States.  While 
I  shall  confine  my  remarks  principally  to  historic 
facts,  connected  with  North  Carolina,  it  is  appropriate 
that  I  preface  them  with  a  brief  allusion  to  our  honored 
organization,  as  perhaps  many  of  my  hearers  are  not 
familiar  with  its  objects  and  purposes.  The  United 
Confederate  Veterans' organization  embraces  the  whole 
South,  including  Indian  Territory  and  Oklahoma. 
On  February  11th  1899,  there  were  enrolled  and  char- 
tered 1,180  Camps,  with  applications  on  file  for  200  more, 

The  objects  and  purposes  of  the  organization  are 
clearly  set  forth  in  the  Constitution  as  strictly  Social, 
Literary,  Historical  and  Benevolent;     "It  strives: 

"1.  To  unite  in  one  Geueral  Federal  ion  all  associa- 
tions of  Confederate  Veterans,  soldiers  and  sailors, 
now  in  existence,  or  hereafter  to   be   formed. 

l,2.  To  cultivate  the  ties  of  friendship  that  should  exist 
among  those  who  have  shared  common  dangers, 
sufferings  and  privations. 

"3.  To  encourage  the  writing,  by  participators  therein, 
cr^  of  accounts,  narrations,  memiors,  histories  of  battles, 
^.  episodes,  and  occurreucies  of  the  war  between    the    states. 

a. 


2 

"4.  To  gather  authentic  data,  statistics,  documents, 
reports,  plans,  maps  and  materials  for  an  impartial 
history  of  the  Confederate  side;  to  collect  and  preserve 
relics  and  mementoes  of  the  war,  to  make  and  per- 
petuate a  record  of  the  services  of  every  member,  and  as 
far  as  possible  of  those  of  our  comrades  who  have  preced- 
ed us  into  eternity." 

To  North  Carolina  belongs  the  honor  of  the  first 
organization,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  of 
Confederate  Veterans  in  fraternal  association,  the  be- 
ginning from  which  our  order  sprang.  It  was  formed 
in  Wilmington  on  February  2nd  1866,  under  the  name 
of  the  "Association  of  Officers  of  the  Third  North  Caro- 
lina Infantry,"  and  none  but  officers  of  that  regiment 
were  eligible  to  membership.  In  October,  1883,  the 
constitution  and  by-laws  were  so  changed  as  to  admit 
enlisted  men,  and  the  name  was  changed  to  the  "Third 
North  Carolina  Infantry  Association."  From  this  be- 
ginning the  idea  was  taken  up  and  organizations  spread, 
under  various  names,  until  their  extent  and  importance 
began  to  attract  more  than  local  attention.  This  led  to 
the  organi  zation  of  the  "United  Confederate  Veterans" 
in  1890,  and  the  adoption  of  the  present  constitution  in 
1895. 

General  John  B.  Gordon  has  oeen  elected  for  several 
years  in  succession  as  Commander  in  Chief.  Each  state, 
as  a  rule,  constitutes  a  Division.  The  Division  of 
North  Carolina  is  under  command  of  Maj.  Gen- 
eral Wm.  L.  DeRossett,  of  Wilmington.  The  State 
is  divided  into  four  Brigades,  and  the  Brigade 
to  which  we,  of  the  western  part  of  the  State 
belong,  is  known  as  the  Fourth  Brigade,  comman- 
ded by  Brig.  Geril.  James  M.  Ray,  of  Asheville.  All 
surviving  veterans  of  the  Confederate  side  of  the  Civil 
war,  in  good  standing,  should  become  members. 

It  has  been  said  with    a  great   deal  of    truth    of    us   as 


a  people:  "North  Carolinians  are  great  on  making 
history,  but  indifferent  to  preserving  it."  I  know 
my  comrades  will  pardon  me  if  I  confine  myself 
to  a  recital  of  a  few  of  the  grand  achievements 
of  our  grand  old  North  State.  No  North  Carolina 
Confederate  soldier,  who  remained  at  his  post 
during  the  war,  and  discharged  his  duties  faithfully, 
has  any  cause  to  be  ashamed  of  the  history  of 
this  State  in  the  great  contest  of  1861-65.  Without 
discrediting  the  soldiery  of  any  of  the  sister  Southern 
States,  I  feel  that  North  Carolina  led  them  all  in 
patriotism,  courage  and  sacrifice  as  will  appear 
from  a  brief  recital  of  the  causes  that  led  to  such 
noble  results.  Comrades,  I  don't  contend  that 
we  as  North  Carolinians,  considered  individually, 
were  braver  than  the  soldiers  of  other  Southern  states, 
but  we  had  more  men  in  the  conflict,  and  were 
afforded  more  and  greater  opportunities  for  action, 
and  we  us^d  those  opportunities  in  a  faithful  dis- 
charge of  duty,  and  that  was  what  made  our  history 
glorious. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1861,  North  Carolina 
was  opposed  to  war  and  secession.  On  the  first  day 
of  January,  the  Legislature  of  North  Carolina,  in  regu- 
lar session,  passed,  by  a  large  majority  in  each 
house,  an  act  declaring  that  in  its  opinion,  the 
condition  of  the  country  was  so  perilous  "that 
the  sovereign  people  of  the  State  should  assemble 
in  convention  to  affect  an  honorable  adjustment 
of  the  difficulties,  whereby  the  Federal  Union  is  en- 
dangered," and  calling  for  an  election  of  delegates  to  a 
State  convention.  At  the  same  time  the  delegates 
were  to  be  elected,  the  act  required  that  the  sense 
of  the  people  should  be  taken  whether  there  should 
be  a  convention  or  not.  The  election  was  held 
on  the  28th  of   February,    1861,  and    upon   the  question 


4 

of  convention  or  no  convention,  the  State  voted 
against  secession   by  a  majority  of  30,000  votes. 

The  policy  of  President  Buchanan  was  against 
war,  and  lenient  to  the  South,  and  under  this  policy 
the  State  did  not  think  she  had  just  cause  to  go  to  war. 
But  there  came  a  sudden  and  radical  change  in  the 
sentimeut  of  our  people  in  the  early  spring.  Mr# 
Lincoln  was  inaugurated  on  the  4th  of  March,  and 
after  that  day  the  conduct  of  the  Federal  government 
towards  the  people  of  the  South  was  such  as  to  rapidly 
crystalize  sentiment  against  the  policy  that  began 
to  develop  under  his  administration,  and  when 
he  issued  his  proclamation  on  the  15th  of  April, 
calling  for  75,000  militia  to  make  war  upon  the 
seven  states  that  had  already  seceded,  making 
requisition  upon  North  Carolina  for  her  quota 
of  1,560  troops,  a  revolution  of  sentiment  spread  like 
wild  fire  on  a  prairie  from  one  end  of  the  State  to 
the  other. 

When  Governor  Ellis  received  the  demand,  he  prompt- 
ly refused,  and  immediately  convened  the  Legislature 
in  special  session,  declaring  the  time  for  action  had 
come,  and  he  recommended  that  20,000  volunteers  be 
called  for  by  the  General  Assembly  to  sustain  North 
Carolina  in  her  course.  The  Generat  Assembly  met, 
and  a  State  convention  ivas  called  to  meet  in 
Raleigh  on  the  20th  of  May.  The  day  was  already 
historic  in  North  Carolina  as  the  anniversary  of  the 
Mecklenburg  Declaration,  and  on  this  day  the  conven- 
tion met  and  promptly  passed  the  ordinance  of  secession 
immediately  after  organizing.  For  a  month  before 
the  State  seceded,  volunteers  were  offering  their  services 
by  thousands. 

Governor  Ellis  realizing  the  importance  of  securing 
all  the  munitions  of  war  possible,  as  soon  as  the 
ordinance      of       secession      passed,      promptly      issued 


orders  for  the  seizure  of  Forts  Johnston,  Macon  and 
Caswell  and  the  United  States  arsenal  at  Fayette- 
ville.  These  orders  were  promptly  executed,  and 
by  the  seizures  57,000  stands  of  small  arms  and 
considerable  stores  of  cannon  and  ammunitions 
were  secured,  which  were  of  great  advantage  in  the 
preparation  for  war. 

There  was  no  rashness  in  North  Carolina's  going 
into  the  war,  but  with  great  prudence  she  delayed 
as  long  as  honor  and  State  pride  would  permit, 
and  on  this  account  she  was  next  to  the  last  State 
to  secede — Tennessee  being  last.  Many  good  people 
had  hoped  and  prayed  that  the  troubles  between  the 
North  and  the  South  would  be  peacably  arranged, 
but  all  hope  was  abandoned  when  it  was  seen  that 
war  was  preferable  to  dishonorable  submission  to 
wrong,  and  the  whole  State  responded  gallantly  to  the 
appeal  to  prepare  for  war.  Patriotism  was  never  at  a 
higher  tide  in  the  old  North  State  than  in  the  Spring 
and  Summer  of  1861,  and,  doubtless,  will  never  be 
again  during  the  time  of  any  person  now  Jiving. 
It  was  a  convulsion  that  shook  the  state  from 
centre  to  circumference,  from  the  mountains  to  the 
seaboard,  pervading   all  classes  of    people. 

No  state. in  the  Union  possesses  a,  record  of  nobler 
achievements  than  North  Carolina.  Her  people  haye 
alwa}7s  loved  liberty  for  themselves,  and  they  offered 
the  same  priceless  boon  to  all  who  came  within  her 
borders;  and  it  was  a  full  knowledge  of  this  trait 
of  "tarheels"  which  made  Bancroft  say:  "North  Carolina 
was  settled  by  the'freest  of  the  free."  This  trait  was  exem- 
plified by  our  forefathers  in  the  early  history  of  th«  State 
when,  on  the  banks  of  the  Alamance  river,  was 
shed  the  first  blood  of  the  Revolution  in  the  first 
great  struggle  for  Independence,  and  that  was  North 
Carolina    blood. 


In  1861,  the  darkening  clouds  of  Civil  war  were 
gathering  over  us — the  marshalled  hosts  were  as- 
sembling and  marching  to  the  front.  The  first 
regiment  that  offered  its  services,  later  known 
as  the  Bethel  regiment,  was  hastened  away  to 
Virginia,  and  on  the  10th  day  of  June  at  Big 
Bethel,  the  first  baptism  of  fire  was  admin- 
istered to  Southern  soldiers  and  North  Carolin- 
ians were  there.  The  first  volunteer  soldier  kill- 
ed in  battle  fell  in  this  conflict  as  a  North 
Carolina  sacrifice.  Henry  Wyatt,  of  Edgecombe 
county,  a  member  of  the  first  North  Carolina 
regiment  formed  was  the  victim.  North  Carolina 
blood  was  the  first  shed  in  the  war  between  the 
states. 

Again,  it  is  significant  of  North  Carolina  pa- 
triotism that  the  first  soldier  slain  in  battle  in 
the  recent  Spanish-American  war,  was  Ensign  Worth 
Bagley,  who  fell  on  the  deck  of  the  Winslow  in 
the  Harbor  of  Cardenas,  on  the  morning  of  the  11th 
of  May  1898,  the  histoiw  of  which  is  fresh  in  the  minds 
of  the  people.  North  Carolina  blood  was  thp  first  shed 
in  the  conflict  with  Spain  for  the  freedom  of  Cuba. 

In  1862,  when  the  augrj'  waves  of  war  were  lash- 
ing our  eastern  shores,  when  the  barking  of  the  war-dogs 
could  be  heard  resounding  on  our  northern  borders 
across  Virginia's  plains,  North  Carolina  was  fortu- 
nate in  calling  from  the  line  of  battle,  a  man,  a 
soldier,  a  statesman,  to  grasp  the  helm  of  State  and 
guide  our  craft  wisely  through  the  remainder  of  the  storm. 
No  state  had.  a  more  courageous 'and' more  prudent 
Governor  in  the  hour  of  its  greatest  peril  than  North 
Carolina  had  in  Zebulou  'B.  Vance.  He  went  into 
the  war  as  Colonel  of  the  26th  Regiment,  but  in 
August  1862,  was  elected  Governor,  and  re-elected 
in    August   1864.     A     few   days     ago  the    Elizabeth  City 


Economist  very  wisely  said:  "Vance's  memory  will  be 
green  for  its  war  record,  when  his  civil  record,  his 
humor,  his  geniality,  and  his  love  of  North  Carolina 
and  all  its  people,  has  faded  to  a  blank  page  on  the  tablet 
■  o'f    memory." 

As  Governor,  Vance  soon  became  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  characters  connected  with  the 
Southern  movement  for  State  rights  and  inde- 
pendence. Senator  Ransom  in  his  eulogy  on 
the  death  of  Vance,  called  attention  to  three  acts 
of  his  administration  that  are  justly  entitled 
to  be  ranked  as  historic  : 

"1.  The  organization  of  a  fleet  of  vessels  to  sail  from 
Wilmington,  N,  C,  to  Europe  with  cargoes  of  cotton, 
and  return  with  supplies  for  the  soldiers  and  essen- 
tial necessaries  for  the    people. 

"2.  In  1864  and  1865,  when  the  resources  of  the 
South  were  absolutely  exhausted;  when  our  noble 
armies  were  reduced  and  hemmed  in  on  every  side, 
ragged,  hungry,  and  almost  without  ammunition; 
when  starvation  and  famine  confronted  every 
threshold  in  the  South,  and  a  morsel  of  bread  was 
the  daily  subsistence  of  a  family — in  that  dark 
and  dreadful  hour  Gov.  Vance  first  appealed 
to  the  government  at  Richmond;  and  finding 
it  perfectly  helpless  to  give  any  relief,  summoned 
his  council  of  State,  and,  by  almost  superhuman 
efforts,  prevailed  upou  the  destitute  people  of  North 
Carolina  to  divide  their  last  meal  and  their  pitiful 
clothing  with  the  suffering  Union  prisoners  at 
Salisbury.  Humanity,  chivalry,  piety,  I  invoke 
from  you  a  purer,  better,  holier  example  of  Chris- 
tian charity  in  war! 

"3.  During  his  administration  as  Governor  in  North 
Carolina  although  war  was  flagrant,  though  camps  cov- 
ered the  fields, though    in  all    countries    in  time 


of  war  civil  authority  has  been  compelled  to  bubmit  to 
military  necessity — yet.  in  North  Carolina,  during  the  war, 
the  writ  of  habeas  corjnts,  the  great  writ  of  liberty,  was 
never  for  one  moment  suspended.  Immortal  history, 
worthy  of   Mecklenburg!" 

The  recent  Legislature  appropriated  $5,000  to  assist  in 
securing  a  bronze  statue  of  Zebulon  B.  Vance  to  be 
placed  in  the  Capitol  square  at  Raleigh.  This  action 
we  are  sure  will  meet  the  approbation  of  North  Caro- 
linians regardless  of  politics  or  creeds  of  any  kind. 
It  is  a  fitting  tribute  paid  to  the  memory  of  North 
Carolina's  great  statesman  and  patriot.  When  the 
complete  history  of  the  state  administrations  during 
those  trying  years  of  1861-65  shall  have  been  written, 
if  ever  done,  the  two  brightest  stars  in  the  Southern 
galaxy  will  be  Zebulon  B.  Vane,  of  North  Carolina, 
and  Joseph  E.  Brown,  of  Georgia,  the  war  Governors  of 
these  two  great.  States. 

The  most  exalted  patriotism  developed  in  the 
Civil  war  can  trace  its  origin  to  the  purest  type 
of  American  citizenship,  inspired  by  defence  of 
home  and  country,  It  was  this  trait  that  enabled 
North  Carolina  to  surpass  every  other  stale,  North 
or  South,  in  furnishing  a  larger  percentage  of 
soldiers  to  the  armies,  led  them  to  display  more 
determined  and  heroic  valor  on  every  battlefield, 
and  sustain  greater  sacrifices.  ■  North  Carolina  is 
the  most  American  of  ail  states,  having  a  native 
born  population  of  1,055,000,  and  a  foreign  born 
population  of  only  8,702,  according  to  the  census  of 
1890.  What  is  true  of  the  census  of  1890,  was  also 
true  of  the  census  of  1860.  The  percentage  of  foreign 
born  in  the  Southern  states  that  seceded  was  as  fol- 
lows :  Texas,  14;  Florida,  11 ;  Louisiana,  10;  Virginia,  Ar- 
kansas and  Tennessee,  3;  Alabama.  2  5;  Georgia,  South 
Carolina    and     Mississippi,  2;  North    Carolina,   0.61 — a 


little  over  one-half  of  one  per  cent.  When  we  turn  to 
the  Northern  States  the  per  centage  of  foreign  population 
runs  very  high,  so  much  so  that  the  single  state  of 
Massachusetts  has  nearly  twice  the  number  of  for- 
eign born  as  the  whole  South,  the  number  being 
657,000  as  against  380,000;  and  New  York  .has 
1,600,000 — nearly  four  limes  as  many  as  the  whole  South. 
The  per  centage  runs  high  in  nearly  all  the  Northern 
states.  The  highest  type  of  patriotic  valor  comes  from 
the  native  born  population  of  our  countr}',  North  and 
South,  and  this  contributed  more  than  any  other 
cause  to  North  Carolina's  valor  in  the  great  contest 
for  the    freedom  of  our  Snnuy  Southland. 

The  military  population  of  North  Carolina  in 
1860  was  115,369;  yet  ihe  State  furnished  the  Confed- 
erate army  125,000  soldiers.  The  total  number  of 
soldiers  who  served  in  the  Confederate  army,  accord- 
iug  to  the  best  authenticated  reports,  was  600,000. 
Thus,  North  Carolina  furnished  considerably  over 
one-fifth  of  the  whole  number.  Of  these  40,000  died 
either  in  battle,  from  wounds,  in  prison,  or  in  hos- 
pitals, and  North  Carolina's  dead  heroes  sleep  on 
almost  every  battlefield  of  any  magnitude  of  the 
war. 

A  better  idea  of  the  numbers  furnished  can  be  forcibly 
impressed  upon  the  mind  by  apportioning  to  each  count}' 
the  average  number.  There  are  ninety-six  counties  in 
the  State,  and  the  average  to  each  county  was  1,302 
soldiers — a  number  sufficient  to  f?rm  a  full  regiment 
and  one  third  of  another.  Draw  this  number  of  men 
from  our  county  today  to  shoulder  arms  and  march 
away  to  war,  and  you  have  an  impressive  illu;- 
tratiou  of  what  took  place  in  1861,  when  these  veterans 
marched  away,  then  in  the  prime  of  life  and  vigor 
of  young  manhood.  The  drain  upon  the  State  then 
was  even  greater    than   it     would   be     now,     because     we 


10 

now  have  a  much  larger  population. 

North  Carolina  lost  more  men  in  proportion  to  pop- 
ulation than  any  other  Southern,  or  any  Northern  state 
in  the  war.  The  per  centage  of  losses  were  as  follows: 
North  Carolina,  30  per- cent;  South  Carolina,  13;  Missis- 
sippi, 12 ;  Virginia,  11;  Georgia,  8;  Louisiana,  5;  Ar- 
kansas, 5;  Tennessee,  5;  Texas,  3  ;•  Florida,  2;  Alabama, 
1.  These  figures  come  from  a  trustworthy  source,  Gener- 
al James  B.  Fry's  tabulation  of  Confederate  losses  from 
the  muster  rolls  on  file  in  the  Bureau  of  Confederate 
Archives,  the  best  authority  that  can    be  obtained. 

In  the  most  important  battles  of  the  war  where  the 
hardest  fighting  had  to  be  done,  North  Carolina  was 
represented.  I  have  time  to  refer  to  only  one  or  two 
instances.  In  the  week  of  battle  which  ended  in  the 
overthrow  of  General  McClellan's  great  army,  ninety-two 
regiments  constituted  the  divisions  of  Jackson, 
Longstreet,  D.  H.  Hill  and  A.  P.  Hill;  These  were  the 
forces  that  drove  the  Federals  to  their  ships.  Forty-six 
regiments — just  one-half  of  all — were  North  Carolina 
regiments,  and  more  than  half  the  men  actively 
engaged  during  the  week  were  from  this  state. 

No  battle  in  the  war  was  more  brilliant  in  its 
particulars  than  that  of  Ream's  Station,  fought  on 
August  25th  1864.  It  was  of  short  duration  bat  it 
was  sharp  and  decisive.  General  Hancock  was  strong- 
ly entrenched  and  had  repulsed  two  attacks.  The 
task  of  charging  the  works  was  assigned  to  Cook's, 
MacRae's,  and  Lane's  Infantry  brigades,  and  Hamp- 
ton's cavalry,  almost  entirely  composed  of  North  Caro- 
linians. A  charge  was  made  on  the  works  by  in- 
fantry in  front  and  dismounted  cavalry  on  the  flank, 
and  they  were  carried  in  the  face  of  a  heavy  fire,  and 
2,100  prisoners  were  taken  and  thirteen  pieces  of 
artillery.  I  was  a  participant  in  this  affair,  and  the 
regiment  to    which    I    belonged    aptured    more    prison- 


11 

ers  than  we  had  men  in  the  charge.  A  humerous  in- 
cident of  the  battle  was  that  Matt  Shields  of  Briartown, 
this  county,  was  seen  alone  marching  seven  prisoners 
to  the  rear,  and  claiming  that  he  had  surrounded 
them. 

At  Gettysburg,  -no  troops  made  a  more  brilliant 
record  than  ours,  nor  suffered  heavier  losses.  No 
regiment  in  any  modern  warfare  has  ever  sus- 
tained greater  loss  than  the  26th  North  Carolina  suffer- 
ed at  Gettysburg.  Out  of  800  men  who  went  into  action, 
the  regiment  lost,  in  a  few  minutes,  708  men,  or  88£ 
per  cent.  The  greatest  loss  of  any  regiment  on  the  North- 
ern side  in  an}'  single  conflict  was  the  5th  New 
Hampshire,  losing  295  men.  This  state  lost  in 
killed  and  mortally  wounded  more  than  any  other 
Southern  state,  the  number  being  14,522.  Louisiana 
comes  next  with  9,714,  and  Georgia,  9,187. 

The  aggregate  number  of  soldiers  engaged  in  the 
war  on  the*  Northern  side  was  2,859,132,  and  on  the 
Southern  side,  according  to  the  best  information  to  be 
had,  600,000,  making  a  grand  total  of  3,459,132.  The 
Federals  averaged  nearly  five  to  one  Confederate  during 
the  whole  period  of  the  war.  Nearer  the  close  these  propor- 
tions diverged  until  the}'  became  near  ten  to  on^  at  the 
end  of  the  war.  The  total  number  of  engagements  of 
all  kinds,  according  to  Phisterer's  Statistical  Record, 
Federal  authority,  was  2,261.  Of  these  85  took  place 
on  North  Carolina  soil.  It  is  not  fair  to  say  the  Con- 
federates were  whipped  in  the  Civil  war.  They  were  some- 
times repulsed,  but  their  courage  never  flagged,  and  they 
were  ready  to  the  last  to  obey  the  orders  of  their  comman- 
ders to  the  very  death.  When  we  consider  that  throughout 
the  whole  contest  the  Union  army  numbered  five  to  one, 
with  unbounded  resources  to  draw  upon  for  army  sup- 
plies, with  millions  of  money  and  ports  open  to  the  world, 
the  Confederate  armies  yielded  only  when  reduced  almost 


12 

to  starvation,  without  clothing,  with  all  avenues  of  sup- 
plies cut  off,  with  all  porls  blockaded,  with  no  credit 
abroad  and  no  money  at  home,  with  the  Federal  arm}' 
numbering  ten  to  one  of  ours,  and  thousands  of  men 
yet  to  draw  on  for  recruits,  while  our  men,  even  boys 
and  old  men  had  gone  to  the  war  and  none  were  left 
for  recruits,  the  armies  of  the  South  were  simply  over- 
powered and  exhausted,  and  in  the  unequal  contest 
forced  to  surrender. 

The  total  number  of  Confederates  that  surrendered 
in  1865,  belonging  to  the  armies  of  Lee,  Johnston, 
Taylor,  Jonfts,  Thompson  and  Kirby  Smith,  was  101,378. 
The  strength  of  the  Federal  army  on  May  1st  1865,  was 
1,000,516  men,  numbering  nearly  ten  to  one  of  ours. 

North  Carolina  was  with  the  last  to  give  up  the  con- 
test. The  last  volley  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia 
was  fired  by  North  Carolina  soldiers  at  Appomattox. 
It  was  fired  by  Gen.  W.  R.  Cox's  brigade  after  a 
flag  of  truce  had  been  raised  hut  before  Gen.  Cox 
received  notice  of  it.  "As  his  men  were  retiring,"  writes 
Col.  Hamilton  A.  Brown,  of  the  First  North  Car- 
olina.Infantry,  "Gen.  Cox  ordered  a  halt,  and  the  com- 
mand 'Right  about,  face!'  was  given.  It  was  promptly 
obeyed,  and  once  more,  and  for  the  last  time,  these  few 
ragged,  foot-sore,  and  half  starved  North  Carolini- 
ans stood  in  the  strength  of  their  manhood  with 
the  men  they  had  met  and  had  driven  back  on  many 
a  bloody  field.  Once  more  the  command  rang  out, 
in  the  clear  voice  of  the  intrepid  Cox  'Ready,  aim, 
fire!'  and  the  last  volley  fired  by  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia  was  by  North  Carolina's  troops — 
this  regiment  among  the  number  defeated,  but  not 
dishonored." 

The  matter  of  pensions  is  one  that  more  or  less 
concerns  the  veterans  of  any  army.  It  is  a  patriotic 
duty    of    any    government      to    make    generous    provis- 


13 

ion  for  those  who  were  in  any  way  disabled  m  the 
service.  The  United  States  government  is  doing  much 
in  the  way  of  pensions.  This  is  our  country,  and  we 
are  helping  pay  the  pensions  of  the  Federal  army,  but 
we  are  not  complaining  much.  We  may  be  rich  enough 
to  pay  $145,000,000  a  year  to  one  million  pensioners, 
but  is  it  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  business 
is  a  little  overdone?  There  are  now  on  the  pension 
rolls  about  as  man}7  names  as  there  were  United  States 
soldiers  under  arms  at  the  surrender.  One  million 
persons  drawing  pensions  on  account  of  wounds 
and  disabilities  received  in  the  Civil  war  over  a 
third  of  a  century  ago!  That  is  400,000  more  people 
than  the  aggregate  number  that  served  in  the 
Confederate  army  during  the  whoie  period  of  the 
war. 

But,  in  truth,  this  indiscriminate  use  of  pensions 
has  cost  the  North  much  in  the  sacrifice  of  noble 
sentiment.  As  a  writer  in  The  Outlook  observes: 
It  has  gone  far  to  blur  the  fair  memory  of  the 
heroisms  of  the  Federal  soldiery  of  thirty-five  years 
ago.  We  have  heard  much  said  since  President  McKin- 
ley's  visit  South  last  December,  about  United  States 
pensions  for  Confederate  soldiers.  Senator  Butler 
thought  he  would  strike  a  popular  chord  when  he 
offered  an  amendment  to  an  appropriation  bill  in 
Congress  to  pension  Southern  soldiers.  He  soon  found 
that  he  had  struck  a  very  discordant  one.  It  all  served 
a  real  good  purpose,  however,  to  show  the  sentiment 
of  true  manhood-  that  still  lingers  in  the  breasts  of 
the  old  ex-Confederate  veterans.  The  camps  of  the  Uni- 
ted Confederate  Veterans  almost  unanimously  opposed 
the  proposition,  and  showed  great  wisdom  in  putting  it 
aside. 

We  are  grateful  that  President  McKinley,  in  his 
speech     \i:     Atlanta,     expressed     thfi    opinion     that     the 


14 

time  had  come  when  the  United  States  government 
should  share  in,  caring  for  graves  of  the  Confed- 
erate dead,  but  we  do  not  want  any  pensions 
from  the  United  States  government.  All  that  re- 
mains of  the  Lost  Cause  to  us,  my  comrades, 
is  a  splendid  tradition  of  heroism.  That  tradi- 
tion is  of  priceless  value  to  the  South.  It  enriches 
the  life  of  the  Southern  people  by  the  sentiment  and 
poetry  which  come  with  it;  and  to  put  the  Confed- 
erate Veterans  upon  the  pension  list  would  go  a  long 
way  toward  destroying  that  sentiment  and 
blurring  the  memory  of  heroism,  which  the  South 
now  sacredly  preserves.  Most  of  the  Southern  States 
are  making  annual  appropriations  to  pension 
the  most  needy  veterans  of  the  war.  Texas  appro- 
priates $250,000;  Georgia,  $195,000;  Virginia,  $145,000; 
Alabama  and  North  Carolina,  $100,000  each;  Tenn- 
essee, $60,000.  Our  State  furnished  mure  soldiers 
than  any  other  Southern  state,  and  her  proportion 
of  maimed  and  diseased  veterans  is  greater.  The 
appropriation  of  this  State  ought  to  be  much  larger 
than  it  is.  It  becomes  a  state  with  such  a  no- 
ble record  made  by  her  soldiers  to  care  for 
those  who  need  her  help  in  a  manner  in  keep- 
ing with  her  noble  history  made  by  her  suldiery. 
Our  State  has  a  pension  law  that  provides  a  pen- 
sion board  in  each  county  to  determine  who 
are  entitled  to  be  placed  on  the  pension  rolls,  and 
to  class  them  into  fiye  classes  according  to  certain 
rules  laid  down.  The  pensions  are  required  to  be 
distributed  to  them  in  proportion  to  their  disabilities 
and  needs.  With  this  arrangement  faithfully  carried 
out,  it  seems  that  the  pensions  ought  to  be  appropriately 
and  justlj'  distributed.  I  notice  a  great  many  private 
bills  were  introduced  during  the  recent  session  of 
the      Legislature      to      place      names     on    the     pension 


0k 

15  • 

rolls.  It  seems  that  this  must  be  wrong.  If  those 
persons  were  deserving,  they  should  have  been  able 
to  have  the  pension  boards  enroll  their  names  and 
assign  them  to  their  proper  classes.  It  is  very  prob- 
able that  such  legislation  places  some  men  on 
the  rolls  or  in  a  class  to  which  they  are  not  entitled, 
and  thus  work  an  injustice  to  those  already  on 
the  rolls  through  the  proper  boards.  I  have  just 
recently  learned  that  the  general  pension  law  pro- 
vides that  the  county  advisory  board  of  pensions 
shall  be  constituted  of  the  Executive  Committee  of 
the  County  Confederate  Veterans'  Association,  whenever 
there  may  be  such  Association  in  the  county;  other- 
wise, this  Board  may  be  composed  of  five  ex-Con- 
federate'-, soldiers,  who  were  actively  engaged  in  the 
war  between  the  states.  One  of  the  duties  of  this 
meeting  is  to  elect  this  committee  and  entrust  to 
it  the  responsible  duty  of  acting  as  an  Advisory  Pen- 
sion Board.  This  arrangement  i-s  a  very  wise  and  ap- 
propriate one. 

The  2,261  battles  of  the  war  were  fought,  Nearly  1,000,- 
000  lives  were  sacrificed.  The  end  came  in  the  Spring 
of  1865.  The  great  armies  dissolved  in  the  presence  of 
the  Goddess  of  Peace  as  the  morning  vapors  disappear 
before  the  march  of  the  King  of  Day.  This  dissolving 
of  the  armies  has  been  beautifully  described  by  the  his- 
torian, Rev.  J.  Win,  Jones:  '"When  the  war  ended  there 
were  1,000,000  Federal  soldiers  under  arms.  They  were 
veterans  without  their  equals  anywhere  under  the  sun. 
Many  were  poor  and  impoverished,  but  within  the  same 
year  ihat  saw  the  end  of  hostilities  all  these  soldiers 
had  laid  aside  their  deadly  weapons  and  were  giving 
their  whole  energies  to  the  pursuits  of  peace.  Civ- 
ilization never  saw  a  grander  sight  than  this 
noiseless  dissolving  •  of  the  armed'  hosts  and  their 
transformation        into       quiet,       orderly,       law-abiding 


•  16 

citizens,  except  the  grander  sight  displayed  by 
the  conduct  of  the  returned  Confederate  soldiers. 
These  last,  with  fortunes  ruined,  hopes  blighted, 
plans  all  frustrated,  and  subject  to  all  sorts  of 
petty  annoyances  by  Provost  Guards,  and  "Carpet 
Baggers"  who  came  South  to  devour  the  little  the 
war  had  left,  instead  of  sitting  down  to  rake 
in  the  ashes  of  the  past,  or  entering  upon  a 
career  of  lawlessness,  took  off  their  coats  and 
went  to  work  in  the  corn,  tobacco  and  cotton-fields, 
in  the  factories  and  workshops,  in  the  professions, 
in  whatever  vocation  honest  industry  could 
make  a  living.  The  waste  places  of  the  South 
have  been  built  up,  her  industries  have  prospered, 
her  deserts  now  'bloom  and  blossom  as  the  rose' 
and  this  changed  result  is  due  (aided  by  God's 
blessing)  to  the  brain  and  brawn  of  the  men 
who  wore  the  gray,  and  who  have  made  as 
law-abiding  citizens    as  the  world  ever  saw." 

Permit  me  to  close    in    the  language   of  William   J. 
Clarke  in  his   beautiful  sonnet  under  the  title  of 
Carolina,  1865. 

"Pale,  fainting  from  the  battlefield, 

Carolina  leaned  on  dented  shield ; 

Her  broken  sword  and  shivered  spear 

She  laid  aside  to  wipe  a  tear. 

Sob-choked  I  heard  her  feebly  say: 

'My  sons!  my  sons!  oh,  where  are  they?' 

The  evening  breeze,  soft,  whisp'iing  sighed: 

'On  freedom's  battle-ground  they  died. 

Fame's  loudest  trump  shall  loudly  tell 

How   bravely  fought,   how  nobly  fell.' 

Loyal,  true-hearted  men  were  they. 

Thev  sought  no  portion  in    the  fray; 

But  Sunny  South  they  could  net  see 

Bow  down  to  Northern  tyranny." 


o#- 


3 
i 


/ 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00032757696 

This  hook  must  not 
he  taken  from  the 
Lihrary  huilding. 


LUNC-lOMjfte  41 


